Semi Green Guy

Rain Barrels Capture a Gardner’s Liquid Gold!

Adam — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:26:36 +0000

: Photo courtesy of Audreyjm529

Rain is the most frugal organic substance on earth. It waters our crops, bathes us, quenches our thirst and most importantly keeps us a live. Farmers and gardeners for thousands of years have harnessed the power of water.

Now days, we are using it in a similar fashion, in Rain barrels to be exact. These barrels can hold anywhere from a few gallons of water to upwards of a few hundred gallons of water.

They are the best alternative for taking care of a small garden to a mid-size garden. Yours truly wants to set-up a small system to take the water from my neighbor’s French drain, which was setup to run into my yard, and use it to fill a medium sized rain barrel to water my gardens.

If you were wondering how much rain you can collect in a rain barrel. Read this excerpt from TerraCycle:

“How much water can I collect?

For each inch of rain water that falls on a 1,000 square foot roof you will collect 600 gallons of rain water. In a rain fall you should expect to be able to fill up your rain barrel at every downspout of your home.” ~ TerraCycle

There are many different types of rain barrels too choose from. You can even make your own, if you are the handy man type.

I am actually thinking of doing this myself, the reason being, I have priced a few barrels and they are not cheap, especially if you are a frugal person such as myself.

The research I have done on making your own rain barrel, to me seems easy. But, this is always the case; it looks easy till I start making it.

A few of the components needed to make a rain barrel include a food grade barrel usually around 55 gallons; they seem to work the best, a spigot to turn the water off and on, an overflow valve and hardware. Of course you also need the correct tools to cut and saw away the openings.

The website NaturalRainWater has a detailed example of how to make a rain barrel; they do a much better job of explaining the process than I do.

As mentioned before you can also purchase an already made barrel off the internet or at your local hardware store. Most major chain stores such as Lowes or Home Depot sell rain barrels; you can also buy them off the internet.

Some of my favorites include Composters and RainBarrelSource, of course there are plenty more websites to choose from, just Google the term “rain barrel” and you will see there are hundreds of sites.

Do you use rain barrels on your garden? Did you make the rain barrel yourself or buy one? I want to hear from you on this, please comment on how you water your gardens.

Semi Green Guy’s Organic Garden

Adam — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:31:03 +0000

Photo courtesy of net efekt

Today I thought I would give you a little peek inside my gardening life. First off I am not an expert at gardening nor do I claim to be one, I have had just a few gardens in my lifetime. But, I do enjoy getting outside and working in my garden.

For expert help, I consult with my parents. They have been gardening for well over 25 years now, they are the experts.

Garden Dreams

I want to grow enough food to offset all the money I spend at the grocery store for veggies. On my other blog Semi Frugal Guy, I have talked of how much I love peppers, onions, tomatoes etc. Well, they are expensive at Wal-Mart. The average Red bell pepper costs me $1.50 each! And I eat them at least 2-3 times a week. So you can see this one veggie costs me plenty.

For what I pay per pepper at the grocery store, I can buy plants that should hopefully produce 5 times as much per plant as what I get at the store.

Crops

This year, my garden will consist of tomatoes, onions, red, yellow, green bell peppers, an assortment of herbs and one mystery plant that I haven’t decided on yet.

Oh also, my parents were nice enough to bring up and plant me some strawberries, a blueberry bush and a blackberry plant.

If each of these crops grows to their full potential, I will not have to worry about grocery store fruits and veggies for a long, long time. Granted I know, the berry plants will probably not produce this year, maybe the strawberries will, but the other 2 I don’t know if they will or not.

Soils

The other day I stopped by Lowes to pick up some soil, peat moss and manure for my garden. They were apparently having a sale; either that or this stuff is really cheap. I got 2 40lb bags of manure $1.60 each, 2 40lb bags of peat moss $1.60 each, 2 40lb bags of top soil $1.60 each and some organic Miracle Grow for $4.50. I was told this was a steal, hopefully so.

This should cover my raised beds; I have 2 that are roughly 7ft x 2ft and one bed that is 5ft x 4ft. Also, they already have a layer of compost and soil a few inches deep.

Well, I guess whatever I have left over I can use on other plants through out the yard. Try to keep some of the flowers around my yard alive, those that the dog or mole hasn’t attacked or destroyed.

Rain Barrel

I don’t have one just yet, but I hope to get one soon. I recently discovered that my neighbor has a French drain installed and its draining from their house down into my yard. So, instead of making a big deal out of this I am going to put it to use.

I want to some how install my own pipe to the drain and have it run down the hill to a barrel I have setup in my yard. The only problem here is the fact that I live on the side of a hill and I would have to have this drain run down the hill and collect into the rain barrel. Does anyone have a good idea of how I can accomplish this?

Once installed I can easily water my garden with the free water instead of using city water, I know the nutrient levels are so much higher coming from nature and you can’t beat the price!

Weed Control

This is a biggie for me and my garden, what I mean by this is that I have Bermuda grass all around the edges of the garden. And from what I have heard Bermuda grass is a huge pest and hard to control. I want to control this and all other weeds organically. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this task?

I want to hear from more gardeners on how you control your weeds and what type of gardens you have.

Organic Gardening Tip of the Day:

Plants need lots of rich organic matter to thrive. Compost, hummus and organic fertilizer are all important characters in your garden. Don’t forget to check the PH of your soil before you plant. Your plants are only as healthy as your soil. If you need to, add earthworms. These guys will be your best friends in the garden. ~ Garden Mandy

My New Cup of Joe: Organic Coffee!!

Adam — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:48:19 +0000

Photo courtesy of Roland

Does your morning routine start off like mine with your morning cup or 5 of coffee? I have been a coffee drinker for many years now. I have joked with some friends that it’s my morning cup of personality.

Recently I read an article on coffee that really caught my attention, so I thought I would share some of it with you.

The article is titled “Coffee Worth the Price” from the Organic Gardening Magazine. The part the shocked me the most was point #2:

“You can start the day with a clear conscience. Conventionally grown coffee is one of the most toxic crops on Earth. In fact, many farmers still use the insecticide DDT on coffee trees around the world. (DDT is banned in the United States but is still in use in many other countries)” ~ Organic Gardening Magazine

That startles me a little, how about you?

This got me to thinking more about Organic coffees. What is organic coffee you might ask? The Organic Trade Association defines organic coffee this way:

“Organic coffee is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic farmers abide by the law.”

I don’t know about you, but as for me, the fewer chemicals I add to my body the better.

There were many more facts that have basically led me to buy organic coffee, such as the extra money goes to farmers trying to earn a living, organic grown coffee means more songbirds in your backyard. I could go on and on with this list but for your sake I will keep it short.

Now I want to hear from you the reader. What kind of organic coffees do you buy? What is your favorite?

The Farmer’s Market – Healthy Frugal Foods!

Adam — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:03:28 +0000

Photo courtesy of Natalie Maynor

This is a guest post article from my Semi Frugal Guy blog. I hope you enjoy this article.

Did you know that the Farmers Market is one of the most frugal ways to buy your foods?

This is basically a store or market dedicated to healthy, organic foods. The middle man is cut out of the picture which helps cut down on the cost associated with buying your fruits and veggies from the grocery store.

The best part is, there are farmers markets throughout the country. Even big cities have markets set up to sell their products.

Here are a few of the numbers on Farmers Markets:

· There are more than 4600 Farmers Markets located throughout the country.

· Farmers Markets are an important source of revenue, they support over 19,000 farmers throughout the country.

· 25 percent participate in programs associated with feeding the needy.

There are also a number of websites dedicated to finding local markets. I have listed a few of my favorites below; you can also do a Google search and find even more info. I hope this helps you in your search for locally grown foods.

· LocalHarvest.org – my favorite website for finding locally grown foods

· FarmersMarket.com – another great resource for find a local farmers market

· USDA Agricultural Marketing Service – yes even the federal government has a website on farmers markets.

I am a big supporter of Farmers Markets and the produce they supply the community. They have all the fruits and veggies your family needs at discounted prices.

When the season arrives and the markets start to open up, I urge you to shop your local market and buy produce from the local farmer. This will support your family and his; I believe this is the best food you can possibly eat. Its healthy, tastes great, chemical free and best of all its frugal!

If you enjoyed this article please comment on it. Also feel free to subscribe to my blog either by RSS feed or via email at semigreenguy@gmail.com

Greetings!

Adam — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:55:36 +0000

I just wanted to greet all my new readers. This is my new blog on Green Living, Sustainability, Organic Gardening and whatever else I want to write about. I am also the author of the Semi Frugal Guy blog.

Basically I saw the need to write a new blog on the subject of “Green”, I love to read and write about this topic.

Hopefully this will be just as successful a blog as my other blog is.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you come back and add your comments to each of my articles.